Sutter Davis Hospital (SDH) has become the first organization in the greater Sacramento area and the smallest hospital ever to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's only Presidential honor that recognizes performance excellence in education, healthcare and business organizations.
Serving the Sacramento area, the 48-bed hospital has been on the national "100 Top Hospitals" list four times, including the past three years. But winning this prestigious award is an affirmation of their many years of hard work, and is a meaningful step along their journey to provide the best possible care for their community.
"Winning the Baldrige says something to your community," said Janet Wagner, Chief Administrative Officer at Sutter Davis. "It tells them that you've got one of the best hospitals in the country, and that the people there are working very hard to provide the very best care. When patients receive care at Sutter Davis Hospital, they know that the team here really does care about their welfare and is doing the very best for them. The Baldrige Framework for Performance Excellence works."
Following Baldrige practices, Sutter Davis became a top performer in several areas, including ratings on readmission rates, and the average length of hospital stays for pneumonia, heart failure, and acute myocardial infarction. Moreover, Sutter Davis constantly improved its emergency room wait time, reducing average door-to-door times from 45 minutes in 2008 to 22 minutes in 2012. The average time for California emergency rooms is 58 minutes.
Furthermore, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), has given SDH an overall hospital rating at or above 90% since 2011. SDH also ranks in the top 10% for communication with doctors and nurses, and discharge information. They have also ranked in the top 10% for physician satisfaction since 2008, and they have met and surpassed the goals of the entire Sutter Health Sacramento Region healthcare system for employee satisfaction and participation since 2009. And their overall rating for inpatient services is in the 96th percentile.
Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said the Sutter Davis and the two other 2013 award winners were cited for being leaders in "innovative practices, dynamic management, sound financial performance, outstanding employee and customer satisfaction, and a solid commitment to excellence and proven results."
Secretary Pritzker added that the Baldrige program "has had a tangible impact on the success of thousands of organizations worldwide and our nation's economy." She said the 2013 winners will undoubtedly continue that legacy and serve as role models for their peers in the health care and education sectors.
The hospital's decision to begin implementing the Baldrige criteria was not made lightly. They wanted to choose the most effective organizational improvement methodology; senior executives considered it for many years before deciding to embark on the quest. "We decided that using the Baldrige Criteria was the best step to sustaining results and building a strong leadership framework for guiding patient care delivery," said Wagner.
Wagner believes that all of the work SDH has put (and will continue to put) into improving has been incredibly worthwhile, not only for her staff but for the greater Sacramento community. Winning the Baldrige has been personally meaningful to leadership at Sutter Davis as well. "It is a tremendous responsibility to be in a hospital, providing care to people," said Wagner. "To be a recipient of the Baldrige—to have someone at that level acknowledge your leadership—is an overwhelming experience."
Established by Congress in 1987, the Baldrige Award is managed by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) of the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in cooperation with the private sector.
Baldrige encourages organizations to learn from the best practices among the three engines that power the economic strength of America's economy - business, education, and healthcare. Access to high-quality and affordable health care is vital to U.S. competitiveness and individual well-being. Baldrige helps healthcare systems improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs. Education propels economic growth. Baldrige helps school districts to create a capable workforce. Productivity is the path to bottom-line business success. Baldrige helps businesses improve revenue. With this improvement scenario repeating itself around the country, Baldrige effectively changes the competitiveness and prosperity of our nation, one organization, one community, and one state at a time.
Moreover, the program raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence in driving the U.S. and global economy; provides organizational assessment tools and criteria; and educates leaders in businesses, schools, health care organizations, and government and nonprofit organizations about the practices of national role models.
"For a quarter century, Baldrige has provided organizations with the framework to achieve world class performance excellence," said Robert Fangmeyer, Director of the Baldrige Program. "Our program helps educators, businesses and healthcare systems examine their practices, benchmark against the best organizations and implement the necessary changes to become global leaders in performance excellence. The Baldrige framework is a set of evolving concepts that address the challenges of today and tomorrow."
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